First Meetings
by Liliana Dragonshard
Summary: Bill first showed himself to Ford long before he came to Gravity Falls. Even all these years later, Ford struggles to shake off the influence the conversation has held over him. (One-shot, slight Au. Written after "A Tale of Two Stans", so not completely caught up with canon.)


**Okay, so me and a buddy of mine decided to have a little contest; write up similar oneshots and post 'em to see who likes em' best.**

 **They're songfics, with the same song, "** deCIPHER by Madame Macabre **" in 'em, so be sure to credit her, alright? Enjoy, peeps!**

* * *

Stanford stared up at the, er, thing hovering above him. It was a triangle; a yellow triangle with one eye, a bow tie, top hat, thin arms and legs, and it gave him the creeps.

Even more so when he realized that everything around him was black and white and grey. He was still in his room, on the upper bunk. He couldn't hear Stanley snoring below him, though. That was just one among countless things putting him on edge right now.

"What do you want?" he demanded sharply, trying to glare at it. It was difficult to make out any finer details that could be there without his glasses.

The thing laughed, opening it's eye again to look at the twelve-year-old. "The name's Bill Cipher! There's no need to be snappish, Six-Fingers."

At the mention of his personal anomaly, the boy hides his hands behind is back. "What. Do you. Want?" he ground out through clenched teeth, glare intensifying.

The triangle only laughed again. "Easy there, Sixer, it's just my little nickname for you. Aren't you tired of being teased and friendless?"

The inquiry caught the boy off-guard, and he eyed the thing thoughtfully. "What are you?" he asked, avoiding the previous question.

"I'm a Dream Demon! But back to my earlier statement; don't you wish that everyone would just leave you alone? I can take a peek into your future and can easily see that you're in for a really bright path! Except if . . . never mind." the demon changed it's mind apparently, glancing towards the bottom bunk before looking back up at Stanford.

"What? What is it?" the boy demanded, tilting his head curiously.

"Oh, nothing much; except your brother it going to sabotage your entire future." the demon said nonchalantly, looking at his nonexistent nails.

"W-what?" Ford replied, shocked. He shook his head in denial. "Lee would never do that! We'll always be best bro's." he said firmly.

The demon shrugged. "You never know when someone's priorities will change, Sixer. Crescent-Spike down there," he gestured to the twin sleeping on the lower bunk. "Will eventually get jealous of your smarts, and make a move in his favor that'll ruin most of your life; if not all of it." the demon added the last line as an afterthought, or as if re-thinking and realizing that it was true.

Ford shook his head again, looking away. "Lee would never do that." he repeated, though he sounded a little less sure of himself now. He shot the demon a small glare. "Leave me alone." he flopped back onto his side, back to the demon, and pulled the covers over himself, up to his chin.

"Kid, I'm not leaving just yet. I know you can hear me!" Bill told Ford, annoyance clear.

Ford just grit his teeth and pulled the blankets over his head. "Go away." came his muffled voice.

"I'm a busy guy and this is a once in a lifetime-type deal here, bucko!" the blankets were suddenly ripped from the bed, making Ford shoot upright with an indignant squawk, shivering a little from the sudden chill.

The demon held the blankets out of arms reach when the kid reached for them. "Listen, Sixer, I'm trying to help you out here. This is the only chance you're going to get to have a hand at changing your future for the better; aren't you tired of being teased for your anomaly?" he indicated the kids hands with a wave of his own.

Ford looked down at them, pouting, before looking away. "Leave me alone."

"Kid, listen, I'm trying to do you a favor here; do you want to live on the streets? I kinda doubt tha-!?"

"I _said_ LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ford shouted, interrupting and throwing his pillow at the demon.

The pillow burst into blue flames and disintegrated into nothing but dust before it even hit the demon. His blankets quickly shared the same fate. Bill grew larger and larger, glowing bright red, the whites of his eye becoming inky black and his pupil the same glowing red as his body. Ford shrank back with a low shriek of terror, holding up his hands in a futile gesture of self-defense.

 **"DO YOU _REALLY_ THINK THAT NIGHT-TIME SLEEPING ITEMS WILL DO _ANYTHING_ AGAINST ME, SIXER?!"** the demon demanded, voice deep, echoing, and definitely dangerous.

Ford squeaked and looked away, eyes squeezed shut. "W-well, I-I don't n-know WHAT w-would work, s-s-so it was _worth a shot_!" he got out, voice trembling and starting to get thick with tears.

Bill suddenly shrunk back, laughing, voice and appearance back to normal. "This is what I like about you! Even in the face of danger, you make jokes! Hilarious!" Bill laughed uproariously.

Ford cautiously peeked out at him, then crossed his arms and glared.

"Heh heh, so, anyway, here," he held out his hand, now alit in blue flames. "Just shake my hand, and I'll take the problem and ultimate downfall of your future out as a seed, before it can even take root. Whaddya say?"

Ford slowly leaned forward, hand out, then frowned and quickly pulled back. "No, that's dumb." he said defiantly, realization crossing his features before turning a death-glare on the demon.

"What?" Bill demanded. If he had a proper face, he'd be frowning.

"That's dumb," Ford repeated. "I can see through your words; you want my brother for your own weird, tripsy demon-ish . . . stuff, whatever demons do with humans, and I'm not gonna just sign his soul over to you." he stated calmly, though his defiance and stubbornness on the manner were clear.

Bill stuttered a little over his next words. "B-but hey! I'm trying to help you out here, Sixer. Your so-called 'brother' is going to literally send you to your death and endanger a lot of people afterwards in the future; besides ruining your future even _before_ that."

"And again; _I don't believe you_. If something dumb like that is going to happen, well, with what you've told me -that's if it's even _true_ \- I can just stick with him and make sure he doesn't do anything. We're _twins_ , we're _always_ there for one another." Ford answered stoutly and surely, completely convinced of his words.

The angry frown was clear in Bill's voice and the narrowing of his eye, but he backed off. Though he wasn't about to leave without a word.

"Don't say I didn't worn you, Sixer. Far in the future a certain relative will unearth a terrible secret, besides starting off what could be the end of this world; and a pair of twins will find mysteries and secrets galore, with nothing to guide them but a clunky ol' book-," he glancede at Fords' hands again, but didn't pause in his words.

"-and a previously ingrained and un-fixable genetic desire to almost-kill themselves on a daily basis; one with a liking for splinters and the other with a strange anomaly they were born with that especially guides them into trouble."

Ford frowned, pondering this information. Before he could reply, though, Bill finished. "Remember! RealityIsAnIllusion, UniverseIsAHologram, BuyGold, BYYYEEE!" Bill disappeared in a flash of light, surrounded by a a large circle of strange symbols.

Ford yelped and jolted sideways, slipping off the top bunk. He seemed to fall forever, too stunned to try and brace himself or land like how he had landed several times before. . . .but landed on something, softening the blow, that groaned beneath him, but he was too busy rubbing his eyes and peering around, trying to figure out where he was.

"Dangit, _Poindexter_! Do you gotta land on'a guy? UGH, I think I swallowed a tooth . . ." Stanley grumbled beneath him, before the body that was Ford's twin spasmed and coughed beneath him.

"Never mind, didn't swallow it . . ."

Ford scrambled off. "LEE!? I just had the craziest dream!" he yelped out. It was almost immediately forgotten when he saw the state his brother was in. And especially alarming that he could notice these things such as bloody mouth, missing teeth, and large bruises without his glasses.

"Oh gosh, Lee! I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, instantly moving to help him up.

Lee grinned at him, one of his upper front teeth missing. He held out his hand, opening it to reveal the missing one. "Check it out, I lost a tooth!"

At that moment, the door opened and the lights flicked on. There stood Pops, still in his nightclothes like the boys and missing his sunglasses. "What's with all the thumping around?" he demanded. For once, the boys could catch the worry in his eyes.

"Ford fell off the bunk and onto me. Now my glasses are crunched and I've lost a tooth!" Lee immediately replied, smiling nervously and holding out said bloody bit of bone.

Their father stared a long moment, expression unreadable. He finally sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, whatever. Stanford, help your brother cleanup. We'll see about those glasses soon enough." he left, and Ford stared open-mouthed at his brother.

Lee only grinned in reply. "Well?" he said, waving his hand. Ford sighed, but grinned back, taking his brother by the elbow and leading him to the bathroom.

Only afterwards did he realize that it had been his own glasses that broke, since Lee had grabbed them by mistake. The scraped cheek and lost tooth paid for it, in a way, as Lee put it.

* * *

Ford couldn't help but reflect on their day out at the beach and the discovery of the Stan'oWar later that night. Some things had unsettled him, like the "unearthing of a horrible secret" and "a liking to splinters". Some of that had come true -well, the splinters thing at least- but yet had not. The demon had also mentioned a pair of twins, but he didn't think that it would really mean anything in relation to him and his brother; right?

* * *

Years later, Stanford would look back on that conversation with Bill and what followed after, besides that day at the beach. He would often ponder whether or not any of it had come true, or would come true.

Sometimes, it seemed very likely that it would, or had.

At other times, it seemed completely unfeasible.

When his brother sabotaged his project, it seemed very likely that Bill really had been trying to help.

But when he sent the postcard to his brother years after that, he thought that it was probably just another mind-game the demon had been playing, as it had the past several months.

When he entered the portal, screaming for his brothers help, it felt very unlikely that any of it was true; the act of throwing him into the grip of the portal was completely unintentional; Lee had no way of knowing what would've happened, and was freaking out just as much, if not more, than he was at the moment.

When he left the portal, it seemed that most of, if not everything, that Bill had said was true, for there it was; a pair of twins, who not only found his buried third journal, but apparently used it on adventures in the mysteries of Gravity Falls . . . and one with a strange birthmark he was apparently oft' teased for, and the other a love, not hate, of the splinters that found their way into her fingers.

For now, he's not sure who to trust anymore . . . his twin, Bill, his great niece and nephew, his own head . . . or his heart.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you think! I feel like I just unearthed a conspiracy, oh dear. ^^* Please review!**

 _Update of October 17, 2015,_

 **Hello! I thought I'd just mention before posting this that the contest has been called off between me and my friend, and that this was written long before we knew how Ford had met Bill. Part of this explained, for me at least, why Ford was wearing Stanley's glasses in the very beginning, and what happened that made Stanley lose his tooth and require a band-aid.**


End file.
